I am a wanderer. I would say that I am a seeker, but sometimes I have no idea what I might be seeking, so I will stick with wanderer. This blog is more a public journal than anything. I don't claim to have life figured out. I simply stumble from mystery to mystery, and share my reflections along the way. Sometimes I feel burdened, and trudge. Sometimes? Well sometimes grace breaks through, and its time to dance.

Welcome

Primitive religion is not believed, it is danced!

Arthur Darby Nock

Earth's crammed with heaven,And every common bush afire with God;And only he who sees takes off his shoes;The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

I don't normally do thisbut today, after reading the news, I thought I would just post/share most of my sermon for this morning

Blessings on all of youThose who agree, and those who don't

Today I want to talk about the verse of scripture from the Letter of James that says, "But be doers of the word, and ……..Anyone want to finish that?

Be doers of the word, not only hearers, deluding your own selves." I think we could add something to that, especially in this day and age…

Be doers of the word, not only speakers!

Though it's not quite the same, this passage reminds me of the adage that goes: "Say what you'll do, then do what you say." I heard that a lot when I was growing up. "Say what you'll do, then do what you say." Make your words and deeds one and the same. Or, as some would say, "Talk the walk, then walk the talk." In terms of faith, be who you're called to be – a child of God, a Christian, a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.

How do you think we are doing today in America? Lots of people, including me, are not so sure we are doing very well

I keep thinking about this quote from Colbert

“If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it.”

OK, you don’t want to think about the words of a TV comedian? How about a theologian?

“Compassion constitutes a radical form of criticism, for it announces that the hurt is to be taken seriously, that the hurt is not to be accepted as normal and natural but is an abnormal and unacceptable condition for humanness.” -Walter Brueggemann

OK let me offer you another quote, from Jim Wallis of Sojourners."To restrict faith to only a few issues of mostly personal morality is to leave wealth, power, and violence unchallenged. Religion becomes a political support for injustice and for those who defend the status quo." - Jim Wallis

We will never change the world by going to churchWe will only change the world by being the church

We will not change the world by hearing or speaking “the Word”We will only change the world by living “the Word”

So what are the biggest issues facing Christians in today’s worldWhere is it that we are most challenged in terms of living the Word?Not as just as individuals, but corporately, as the church, as a nation

To me, and this is only my opinion, the big winner is economic justiceFollowed closely by “justice”

If we think about the Bible, economic justice is everywhere, perhaps more than almost any other topic.

There are hundreds of scripture passages that talk about economic justice; about lifting up the poor and oppressed; about reining in the excesses of the rich. In fact, there probably is nothing God talks about more in the bible than this topic. God spoke through virtually all of the prophets of the Old Testament about selfishness and economic inequality. For instance, the prophet Amos said:

But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! Amos 5:24

The book of Amos is about a society similar to our own in which the profits produced by the work of the people were going, not back to the people who created them, but rather to the rich landowners. Amos called for economic justice and righteousness.

One of the few verses in the bible repeated verbatim is this one:

I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy.Psalm 140:12 and Proverbs 13:23

Later in Proverbs we read: The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern. Proverbs 29:7

When Jesus began his public ministry, he said: The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Luke 4:18-19 (quoting from Isaiah 61)

Later, in the Beatitudes (Luke 6), Jesus said: Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God....But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Luke 6:20; 24

Here's another passage relevant to economic justice from the gospels: A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good--except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother." "All these I have kept since I was a boy," he said. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Luke 18:18-23

For the past 40 years, as income disparity has increased. As with any such issues, Christians must think about what approach best reflects Christian (i.e. gospel) values: individual wealth creation (hoarding?) or promotion of the common good (sharing)?

This is what I believe. If we really believe the gospel, then we will believe in the things Jesus believed in. We will live Jesus' values. Those values are all about loving God; loving (and treating) one's neighbor (and enemy) as ourselves; sharing what we have with others; and generally promoting a better, more just, righteous, and unselfish world -- for all of God's children. Which means everyone. Everyone!

I suppose maybe that sounds liberal or even like something a Democrat or "Occupy Wall Streeter" would say. If so, then so be it.

But this is where I think the Gospel comes down…This is what the Bible saysAnd somehow, we as the church, need to find not only our voice…We need to find a way to live this out… by how we live, how we speak, how we think about others, and who we admire and affiliate ourselves with.

It is something to think about.

I am going to close with a little poem I put on my blog. I’ll put this out there, as what it means to be “doers of the word”. The inspiration was the words of John Wesley.

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.

Christian ethics are pretty simple really

Love GodLove the people around you

Not some of the peopleAll of the people

Love them no matter what color they areOr what they believeLove them whether they are rich or poor

Love them when they are strong and productiveLove them when they are woundedAnd hurting

Love them whenFor whatever reasonYou can’t like them

Just love themLove them with loving speechLove them through compassionLove them with your actionsLove them with your attitudeLove them with your timeLove them with your giving

Love them by forgivingAnd acceptingBy seeing the seed of the sacredNo matter how twisted or blurredOr hiddenThe divine image might seem to you

That person in front of youIs inherently preciousA child of GodA prince or princessA child of the Ruler of All

So just love themlove them with allthe love (God)that is in youjust love

Now, this may seem a bit like lawPerhaps a bit like shaming….. I don’t mean it to be…Because this I also believe

That as God’s children, who have connected with God, and have experienced the movement of the SpiritWe can do this. We can do this, when perhaps, no one else canor will

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Been reading a book titled "Reconciliation" by Thich Nhat Hanh﻿He talks about our need to healour need to be reconciled to othersspecifically to those closest to ussuch as our parents (even those who have already passed on)

and about our need, our great needto be reconciled to ourselvesand to our past selvesour five year old selves

if we cannot be reconciled with ourselves he asks,how can we ever be reconciled with others?

I am working nowto reconcile my adult self withthat 5 year oldthat 11 year old self

that self that always worriedin the face of high expectationsam I enoughcan I please my fatherbe liked by my classmates

to that end I return again to my metta (lovingkingness) phrases that I created for myself

Again I share themwith all of you

"May I find the sacred withinMay I find my true self againOverwhelmed by Sacred lovemay my body be healedmay my mind be healedmay my heart be healedmay my soul be healedmay I be at ease

Friday, September 27, 2013

Religion is for the sake of divine union, not social
order, yet the powers that be always want to use it for maintaining social
order. This pollutes much of religion's goal and purpose.

In fact, it makes you anal retentive after awhile, to use
Freud’s rude phrase, because you can never be happy with life as it is, which
is always filled with handicapped people, mentally unstable people, people

of other and so-called false religions, irritable people,
gay people, and people of totally
different customs and traditions. Not to speak of wild nature, which we have
not loved very well up to now. Organized religion has not been known for its
inclusiveness or for being very comfortable with diversity. Yet pluriformity,
multiplicity, and diversity are representative of the only world there is! It
is rather

amazing that we can miss, deny, or ignore what is in
plain sight everywhere.

Salvation is not sin perfectly avoided, as the ego would
prefer; but in fact salvation is sin turned on its head and used in our favor.
That is how transformative divine love is.Richard Rohr

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Of the Seven Deadly Sins, anger is possibly the most fun.
To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over
your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to
the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are
giving back -- in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is
that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.Frederick Buechner

_____________________________________________

O Lord

some days I am amazed

I read of angry men

and angry women

who amaze me with their words

their acts

and yet

who in the end

harm themselves as much as others

I think of people I know

angry and entrenched in their bitterness

holding on to events long past

immersed in the pain of

enmity

I think of countries who act much the same

Countries who for thousands of years

Have held fast

To old grudges

And would rather shoot than talk

I see people

I see countries

Destroying those around them

And

Destroying themselves

I think

How foolish!

And yet Lord

I know there are within me

Ravenous wolves of anger

That prowl

And growl

And feast on my soul

Lord

Remind me that sometimes

the skeleton at the feast is me

and help me to forgive

____________________________________________

Forgive us our debts (sins) as we forgive our debtors (those
who have sinned against us)

Further Reading

Creative Use of Diversity by Stephen Kliewer. A look at diversity in the church. Thoughts about the kinds of diversity in local congregations and its impact. Also thoughts about how to deal with diversity to maximize the positives and minimize the negatives . Published by the Alban Institute 1985

Healthcare and Spirituality by Stephen Kliewer and John Saultz. A look at spirituality and its place in the healing process. Originally designed as a primer for healthcare providers, it has also proved useful to pastors and laypeople. Published by Radcliffe Medical Press 2006.

Both can be found on Amazon.com

Another version of this blog, with photography from the author can be found on FaceBook

Look for "Dancing Faith"

Another great blog can be found at http://thefunstons.com/I encourage you to check it out!